The present invention relates to scale controls, and in particular to scale controls for use in connection with containers or carriers of pourable materials, such as grains, gravels and other particulate materials, and liquids.
In certain applications involving the carrying of pourable materials, such as the harvesting of grain, it is important to know the weight of the materials being carried, and it is also important to know the amount of materials that have been loaded onto the carrier, and the amount of materials that have been off-loaded from the carrier. In order to properly accomplish these functions, certain conventional scale controls have a number of control buttons that must be pushed, in a certain order and at predetermined times, in order to ensure the proper operation of the scale and the carrier to which the scale is applied.
As one specific example, the Digi-Star EZ2400 scale control system requires the operator to press the Zero button before the material is loaded onto the carrier. Once the material is loaded and the display shows the current weight of material in the carrier, the operator must then press the Tare button, to get the display to go to zero. The next step is to unload, at least partially, the carrier. In doing so, the display will show the amount of weight off-loaded, as a negative number. When the desired weight is unloaded, the Print button is pressed, to save to a storage medium the amount that was off-loaded. Thereafter, the Gross/Net button is pressed, and the display shows the weight of the materials remaining in the carrier.
This procedure is complicated, and is not easily conveyed to an untrained or casual or part-time operator, and so a need exists for a simpler and more understandable scale control system.
The present invention relates to improvements to the systems described above, and to solutions to the problems raised or not solved thereby.